Armed patrols stepped up in Kyrgyzstan's capital

Patrols by both armed security services and unarmed civilian volunteers have been stepped up in Kyrgyzstan's capital Bishkek, which remained calm on Monday.The patrols grouped outside a mosque in Mahalla, a mostly ethnic Uzbek neighbourhood in what is a mostly ethnic Kyrgyz city.
Volunteers wearing green arm bands, said their group Ak-tilek was multi-ethnic in make-up as they prepared to go out on evening and night time patrols.
"In principle, the city of Bishkek is pretty quiet. Here in this area there are mostly ethnic Uzbeks, here we don't feel the difference in nationalities," said ethnic Uzbek Yusopov Mokhamadali.
Security forces from the interior ministry also patrolled the city on Monday evening, dressed in civilian clothes and driving unmarked cars. But in the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh, three miles (five kilometres) from the border with Uzbekistan, gunfire pierced the air and fires raged for a fourth day.
Officials said at least 138 people were killed and nearly 1,800 wounded since the violence began last week, but an Uzbek community leader said at least 200 Uzbeks had already been buried, and many bodies had not been recovered from charred homes and businesses.
The violence forced tens of thousands of minority Uzbeks to flee to the border with Uzbekistan.
It's the deadliest violence in the country since the two ethnic groups fought over land 20 years ago as Moscow lost its grip on the former Soviet republic in Central Asia.
The interim government, which took over when former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was ousted in an April uprising, has been unable to stop the violence and accused Bakiyev's family of instigating it to halt a 27 June referendum on a new constitution. Uzbeks, who are a minority in Kyrgyzstan as a whole but whose numbers rival the Kyrgyz in the south of the country, have backed the interim government. Many Kyrgyz in the south have supported Bakiyev. From his self-imposed exile in Belarus, Bakiyev has denied any role in the violence. Speaking to reporters on Monday, he again blamed the interim government for not preventing the rioting and called on the Moscow-dominated Collective Security Treaty Organisation to send in troops. The new Kyrgyz government asked Russia to send troops, but the Kremlin turned down the request. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev condemned the violence and said he had spoken with Kyrgyzstan's Interim President Roza Otunbayeva. He said "tough" action must be taken to prevent further unrest and bloodshed. Uzbeks make up 15 percent of Kyrgyzstan's 5 (m) million people and are generally better off economically, but they have few representatives in power and have pushed for broader political and cultural rights. Both ethnic groups are predominantly Sunni Muslim.